Shadow Creek is golf s Brigadoon a mythical place that precious few have actually laid eyes on There are two reasons for this For years it was open only to high rollers at Steve Wynn s Mirage casino and even now when the course is open to guests at all MGM Mirage properties the fee is a high rollin 500 But despite its infamous 40 million price tag in 1989 dollars Shadow Creek is no typically gaudy totem of Synthetic City True the course offers not a hint of the surrounding desert The only sand you ll see is in the bunkers Instead Tom Fazio s design conjures a Carolinas feel with treelined corridors and more rises and falls than a novice s chip stack But what you get for your five notes is one fine hole built upon another until you reach a show stopping finale at Nos 17 and 18 The strong holes actually begin at the fourth an eye catching par 5 that curls around a lake followed by a 206 yard par 3 at which your tee shot is played across the roof of a mini forest One interesting quirk here The course has no UGSA handicap or slope rating because it s designed to be a match play track This is Vegas after all home of the 1 million Nassau It s easy to dismiss Shadow Creek as a mere feat of engineering a symbol of what you can do with flat desert if you have an unlimited bankroll It s surely that but much more as well Perhaps the best tribute to Shadow Creek is that the finest course in Las Vegas one designed as a playground for the town s biggest bettors and still the pinnacle of glitter speckled golf makes you forget where you are It s simply great golf Nothing more and certainly nothing less Eamon Lynch For more information go to shadowcreek com